Clumsy with chopsticks but can't live without them... ** I don't post English translations of Japanese recipes without permissions from the recipe authors. But feel free to contact me about the dishes you're interested in.

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"OBACHAN" means a "middle-aged woman" or "aunty" in Japanese.
.*************************. Having moved back to my hometown in April 2009, I live in one of the desperately underpopulated areas in Japan now. Let me share my life in a real countryside with aging parents living in the same house. And here in Muroto -- the place where I chose to live -- you can hear the heartbeat of the Earth! ;)

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Wednesday, September 28, 2005

To be honest, I don’t now much about Turkish food. I might have tried a few of them without knowing that they were Turkish, but I’m not sure. Of course I didn’t know what hummus was -- I didn't even know that it was food.

Then a few days ago, when I was bloghopping all over the world, I accidentally found this recipe on Isil’s site. It looked really attractive to me especially because I had some eggplants that needed to be used up. I love grilled eggplants. I love chick peas. Therefore, the combination of them must be something I would love... but you never know how it would taste until you actually give it a try. So why not?

I had all the ingredients in my kitchen except chick peas, and I bought the peas at a supermarket on my way back from work this afternoon. Then I spent some quality time in the late afternoon with my new electric blender, and finally I was able to take a shot of the result before I left my apartment for my night-time work . Yes, dear readers, this is the result of my very first attempt of trying out a Turkish recipe – hummus with eggplant!

First I tasted this with a small piece of soft and fluffy Japanese bread, and thought that it was a bit too garlicky. ( I used real big cloves.) So I added a little more chick peas and a bit of milk to make it milder. It worked!!

They say that hummus is traditionally served with pita bread, but I have no idea where I can find it around here. Oh well, at least I can get some crackers or cracottes tomorrow. What else would be good to eat with hummus? Any suggestions?

BTW, this nice looking bowl and spoon are a present from my boss. They made a perfect debut with my very first attempt of hummus.

Yesterday was actually my lucky day -- I got a present not only from my boss but also from a colleague. She said that someone gave her bunch of home-made moromi miso, so she gave me some in a big tapperware. This is not as sweet as the regular ones sold at stores. Thanks to her, my late night supper was upgraded with a small plate of moro-kyu (cucumbers with moromi miso ) last night.

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Sep. 29, 2005

Thank you guys for so many great suggestions! :D

Right now I’m enjoying the hummus with veggie sticks and Doritos.Mmmm…too bad there’s no beer.

I love hummus too, so I can imagine what yours taste like. I'm not too keen on eggplants, but. :)

I usually have hummus with pita, and me being not really adventurous, haven't really tried it with any other thing. Tabouleh goes well with pita too, and is one of my Turkish favs. Lovely on kebabs and even a turkey sandwich!

I use any kind of bread with hummus or baba ghanouj, but baguette is very nice, and a good bagel works well too. Sometimes I make hummus sandwiches with some olives, cucumbers, hummus, and tomato, nice on a heavy multi-grain bread.

You can make pita yourself if you have an oven. It works best for me with my baking stone, but I've made them on baking sheets also.

It's just a very simple yeast dough, a little sticky, and a short proof time is fine if you use enough yeast; an hour or so will work. Rolled out to a thin, even thickness and baked, they will puff up nicely, leaving the little air pocket in the middle.

CarlynThere used to be a supermarket that sold tortillas, but they don’t any more. Too bad. The doritos (Nacho cheese) I’m munching on now is not too bad, but I think its strong taste hides the hummus flavor.

JmeI don’t really taste eggplants, but I do notice the hint of the sweet smell of grilled eggplants. Tabouleh is another thing I haven’t tried yet…it’s a salad, right? I’ll tell my boss that you liked the bowl. She’ll be really happy.

keonaNo, I haven’t used sesame paste this time, but I could add some, too, because I have some in my kitchen. Tomatoes stuffed with hummus! Oh I like it. Would be cute if I made bunch of hummus-stuffed cherry tomatoes.

AmandaOK, I googled again… baba ghannouji is eggplant dip, right? I think the Combination of chick peas and eggplants is a great idea, too. And I’ll tell my boss about what you said about the bowl, too.

sueBagel! Yeah, it must be good. I’ll give it a try next time I get one a bagel from our local bagel shop.

Jason TruesdellMmmm…sandwiches sound good, too. But if pita bread is not too difficult to make, I’ll definitely give it a try this weekend! Thanks for the instruction.

KT121Thanks for your suggestion. Now I’m enjoying veggie sticks with hummus. I love carrots with hummus the best.

paolaWow! I guess we are meant to be making pita breads this coming weekend. Let’s have fun.And who knows…hummus might taste good with some kind of chocolate, too…

Bachan! I am going crazy over your bowl and spoon present. It is super kawaii yo. You are so lucky to have such a nice boss!The hummus looks very appetizing with Doritos (I love Doritos!). I will try to make hummus one day.

I have a really powerful blender and when I make my own hummus I start from dry chickpeas and, after soaking and cooking, add things my kids won't normally eat (raw zucchini, carrots, sundried tomato in olive oil) and a splash of hot sauce and serve it with whole wheat pita, tortilla chips and your favorite, carrot sticks. They don't like eggplant, so I can't use it for them. :(

So, your next projects are homemade pita and baba ghanooj, huh? Good for you. When I had a craving for more middle eastern food, I found a few recipes for falafel (spicy fried chickpea balls) and combined them into one something like this one, except that the chickpeas are ground after soaking but without cooking.

Please tell your boss I'll be happy to send you my address if I can have a pretty bowl, too. ;)

obachan,one of my favorite ways to eat hummus is on a toasted bagel. slather on the hummus, then a little bit of sliced tomato and sliced dill (!) pickle, maybe some onion. the pickle and hummus go really well together. i have a post on three middle eastern dips in the queque to be posted soon: baba ganouge, spinach pate and mohammara. and rightnow i just posted a recipe for seitan shawarma. i love middle eastern food.